Knit fabric



(No Model.)

' R. WARD.

r KNIT FABRIO. No. 283,047. Pat'entedAug. 14, 1883.

I TNESSES: V INVENTOR 5 Y mw Mad A; ATTORNEYS N KERS. Phula-Lilhognphnn Washingiumfic UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERTVWARD, or soUrH ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

' KNIT FABRIC.

I SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 283,047, dated August 14, 1883.

l Application filed February 16, 1883. (No model-l To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, RO ERT WARD, of South Orange, in the county of Essexand State of New Jersey, have invented an Improved Knit Fabric, of which the following is a specification.

Figure l is an enlarged face View of my improved knit fabric. Fig. 2 is a face view, on an enlarged scale, of the ground fabric by which the figure-threadis held in 'my structure. Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the manner of laying the threads in the machine, and Fig.

4 is a sectional elevation of a knitting-machine on which my fabric can be made.

This invention relates to knit fabrics; and it consists in a new fabric composed of groundthreads forming interlocking loops that are connected by strands, and of figure-threads held solelybetween said loops and said strands, and laid in zigzag form, all as hereinafter more fully described.

'In the accompanying drawings, with more particular reference toFig. 1, the letters a represent the upwardly-extending loops of the body-threads of my new fabric, whichloops, if the body-threads alone are considered, as

appears by the diagram, Fig. 2, are of the thread 1) extends under another loop a, and

then reaches another pair of interlocking loops (1, in line with the junction of which it makes the return-bend of the zigzag line. The fig- .ure-thread, being placed beneath these several loops are, but over the connecting-strands a, is firmly held'in place, and at the same time, by its tension, tends to distort the meshes. of

the foundation fabric to a certain extent, as

will appear from a comparison of the founda tion fabric, as shown in Fig. 2, with its condition when holding the figure-thread, as shown in Fig. l.

ence made entirely of wool, and is closely knit for ordinary uses, and then teaseled or napped on both sides, producing thus'a woolly nap, which nap can be very close, thereby produc- 'ing a knit and, consequently elastic fabric which, when used for articles of underwear, will bring the woolen nap in contact with the body. Nevertheless this new fabric invented -made entirely of cotton threads, or partly of cotton and of woolen threads, or of silk, or of any'desired mixture of these or other substances in the threads that are employed in its 'make.

an ordinary knitting-machine is very simple. Thus in Fig. 4c is illustrated a-vertical section of an ordinary knittingmachine having nee dles A, that are placed in a row, as indicated in horizontal section, Fig. 3. These needles are usually spaced so that they are about twelve to an inch in one row; but of course the distances between them may bevaried according to the quality of work to beproduced or the thickness of yarn employed. The threads to .for the groundwork are passed through guides B,.there being one such guide to every. needle -A. Thethreads b for the figure are passed through guides G, which are also spaced in harmony with the spacing between the needles. The guides B and Care capableofloir gitudinal motion-that is to say, horizontal also transverse motion-that is to say, mo-

ground-thread 1 is by its guide B first moved shown to occupy in Fig. 4 into the space between two needles say A and A, Fig. 3- the arrow 4 in Fig. 3 showing the direction of this movement. Then this thread is carried around the needle A (see arrows .5 and 6,) and then in the direction of the arrows 8 and 10, from the inner side of the needle A to the around said needle A as by arrow '13, and then from the inner side of the needle A to the outer side of the needle A, (see arrow 14,) and so forth, describing the figure 8 about these two needles. The figure-thread 2 is car- The fabric thus constructed is by preferby me can also be used with advantage when Themanner of producing this fabric upon 5 motion par'allelwith the rowof needles-and I tion at right angles to the line of needles and I 1 the motions are substantially as follows: The it 9 laterally from the position which that guide is outer side of the needle A, then half-wayried by its guide 0 at first in the same direction as the thread 1. into the space between the needles A and A that is, in the direction of the arrow 4-and then remains atrest for a while, to enable the thread 1 to be laid in the space between the two needles A and A as shown in Fig. 3. Then the figurethread is moved in the direction of the arrow 7 above said S-shaped part of the groundthread 1, and then the figure-thread is carried in the direction of the arrow 9 past the needles A A A (more or less) into line with the space between the needles A and A is then carried into said space, as shown by the arrow 11, remains at rest again for a while to allow an S-shaped portion of another ground-thread to be formed between the needles A A, and is then carried in the direction of the arrow 12; thence in the direction of the arrow 15 into line with the space between needles A and A, and so forth. Thus the figurethread will, whenever it loops around an S-shaped part of the ground-thread, engage with said groundthread in the manner indicated in Fig. 1.

It is understood that whenever the thread 1 is laid around a needle it is placed there to form a mesh, the needle being moved vertically at intervals and actuated in connection with sinkers in manner usual with knitting-machines. In fact there is nothing new in the machine invented by me. The needles may be the common latch needlessuch as are shown in Fig. 4or may be barbed needles. Their motion may be controlled by any of the well-known mechanism. The guides B and O are attached to guide-bars in the usual manner, and motion is imparted to them in the required direction either by hand, if the operdles, behind which the longer parts of the zig-,

zag strands extend until it again engages the crossing of two loops, and then returns behind three needles, and so on. Of course, instead of extending the figure-threads behind three needles, it may extend only behind one needle, or two, or more than three needles, the substantia-l effect being the same-na1nely, that of placing the figure-thread behind the loops a and in front of the strands a of the knit groundwork. After the fabric is finished it may be nap'ped or teaseled in suitable manner, to produce the surface effect desired, either on one side only or on both sides.

The diagram Fig. 3 shows only one groundthread and one figure-thread, it being clear that a ground-thread is entered between eyery pair of needles and a figure-thread between every other pair, or at larger intervals, if desired.

I claim The knit fabric composed of ground-threads forming interlocking loops (1. a, that are connected by strands a, and of the figure-threads Z2, that are held solely by and between said loops a and said strands a, and laid in zigzag form, substantially as described.

ROBERT WARD. 

